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An international version of the BBC’s revamped series Food and Drink will become the first original production to air on BBC Lifestyle.
Food and Drink, a mainstay of the BBC’s schedules in the 1980s, is a discussion and demonstration programme about the latest culinary trends. A revamped version was recently commissioned for BBC2 in the UK.
Now the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide and its in-house production team are joining forces on a 6x30′ international version fronted by chef Michael Roux Jr. It will air on BBC Lifestyle in 2013.
Another BBC2 commission, Dara O’Briain’s Science Club (6x50′), is also having an international version made for the BBC Knowledge factual channel. The series takes a different subject in each episode – ranging from extinction to sex – and examines it from different and unexpected points of view.
Stand-up comedian O’Briain has previously hosted School of Hard Sums for diginet Dave and Stargazing Live for BBC2 alongside Professor Brian Cox. He recently spoke to C21′s Talking Shop strand about making programmes about science and maths appeal to a mass audience by using Twitter and social media.
The programmes are part of a plan by Tracy Forsyth, VP of commissioning, to treble the number of original hours ordered for BBC Knowledge, BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle and BBCWW’s general entertainment channel in Australia and New Zealand, UKTV. The aim is to air 100 original hours across the channels by 2014.
